The Ultimate Power
by SmashQueen
Summary: "I think..." Blaze said carefully, her finger flicking a small wheel, "I think this may be some sort of record of the past. It ends just a little over ten years ago and goes back...here." The red dot stopped. "Over fifty years ago." Sonic Forces-verse. Prompt fill.


So I'd been thinking about how and why the Chaos Emeralds were not in Sonic Forces as a plot crucial component. No harmony with the Phantom Ruby? What about the Emerald Detector? Where was Blaze? Someone should have found the Emeralds and Angel Island should have been invaded for the Master Emerald.

So I made my own guess. Blockquotes don't seem to work so apologies for the replacement formatting below.

Part of a collection of prompts that I decided to upload by itself.

* * *

"Silver… Look at this!"

Silver looked away from the dusty old report in his hands to his feline friend typing away at a computer. He left the battered bookcase and went to stand by her side, stepping over loose tiles and the fallen pieces of machinery.

The monitor Blaze had stationed herself at was red and black and full of dates, going as far back as thirty years and then some. Beside the list, taking up more than half of the screen, was a blue, green, and grey sphere. It slowly turned, large colorful masses passing out of sight while other came in.

As the list scrolled down, a little red dot zoomed across the map, seemingly at random. Sometimes it would stay in one place or disappear completely. At the same time, words flashed by rapidly in a small box at the bottom. Silver caught some words - "island", "city", and "robots" to name a few – but nothing that made sense.

"Whoa…What is it?" he asked.

"I think..." Blaze said carefully, her finger flicking a small wheel, "I think this may be some sort of record of the past. It ends just a little over ten years ago and goes back...here." The red dot stopped. "Over fifty years ago."

Curious, Silver's gaze settled on the small box, the words no longer a blur. Beside him, Blaze gasped softly.

_April 29, XXXX_

_Metal Sonic, Chaos, Shadow, Zavoc, and Infinite, Eggman's latest ally, defeat Sonic._

_Eggman makes a global broadcast declaring Sonic dead. Gives governments of the world an ultimatum: submit or be crushed._

_May 1, XXXX_

_Eggman and Infinite take over South Island. Infinite proceeds to decimate twelve cities over the next 24 hours including Empire City and Metal City, despite them being in opposite hemispheres._

_May 3, XXXX_

_Zavoc seen at Monopole City. Attack launched two weeks later on May 17._

_May 7, XXXX_

_Chaos attacks Station Square. Note: Can't find Amy._

_May 8, XXXX_

_Shadow attacks Westopolis. Rouge the Bat is injured trying to stop him._

_May 9, XXXX_

_Infinite invades Soleanna. Princess Elise the Third of Soleanna submits to the Eggman Empire._

_May 13, XXXX_

_Eggmanland Amusement Park opens. _

_May 15, XXXX_

_Eggman and Infinite invade Central City. G.U.N. headquarters destroyed._

_May 16, XXXX_

_Team Chaotix attack Eggmanland Amusement Park. All communications cut after 54 minutes._

_May 17, XXXX_

_Monopole City attacked. _ _Is u__nder command of Metal Sonic._

Blaze scrolled down quicker. Silver's teeth clenched.

_May 29, XXXX_

_Infinite invades Emerald Town. No survivors._

_June-July XXXX_

_Angel Island starts heading north, northeast._

_June 11, XXXX_

_Infinite invades Chun-nan. Emperor of Chun-nan is killed._

_June 19, XXXX_

_Mystic Ruins workshop destroyed. Still can't find Amy._

_June 30, XXXX_

_Remnants of a G.U.N. cell stage an attack on Metropolis. No one comes back._

_July 17, XXXX_

_President of Spagonia submits to the Eggman Empire. Eggman has 4 Chaos Emeralds now._

_July 29, XXXX_

_Holoska refuses to submit to the Eggman Empire. The Eclipse Cannon is fired. No survivors._

Silver stepped away from the console, shaking his head and wrenching his eyes away. "This is horrible..."

_Beep-beep-beep!_ "No hostiles detected."

Silver spun around at the stilted, unnatural voice, hands curled into fists, a cyan aura covering his body. Blaze backed away, fire wreathing her hands. The computer whirred and a moment later the monitor lit up in even more colors as a new screen appeared over the first. The grinning, wrinkled face of a grey fox greeted them.

"I did it!" he shouted. "I did it! I've found a way to save them!" The fox stopped for a moment, and took a step back, brushing down his lab coat. Blaze's fire extinguished. "Oh, uh, log two-fifty-eight-dash-nine-one-two. Anyway! It's taken almost forty years, but I have a way to stop Eggman." The fox closed in on the camera again, his blue eyes lit up. Breathlessly, he said, "Time travel." The fox stepped aside and allowed the screen a full view of an odd array of wires, tubes, and metal towers surrounding what looked like a high tech altar. Hovering atop of each tower was a sparkling gem, each a different color but no less beautiful.

Silver let his hands drop and psychic powers lax. He turned for a moment with Blaze to eye the very altar behind them, something they had unanimously decided to stay away from. The gems were still sparkling atop their pillars, still unblemished.

"Behold the Time Twister!" the fox announced, gesturing proudly. "It takes the chaotic energies of the Emeralds and focuses them into a singular localized point that opens up a portal to another time! With this someone could theoretically go back to when the war with Eggman started and _change things._ Knuckles wouldn't have to leave with Angel Island. Amy could be found before the attack on Station Square. The Chaotix wouldn't have sneaked into Eggmanland and been caught. Cities all over the world could be warned when Eggman and Infinite would attack and they could defend themselves!"

All at once, the joy seemed to be sucked dry from the fox as he slumped onto a nearby stool. "...But I can't use it. I would need to interact with my old friends to save them, and inevitably I would meet my past self." The old fox grimaced. "That's not something I could allow to happen. The results would be devastating. Besides that, my past self would also need to be absolutely certain that he would build the Time Twister in the future, regardless of what happened, and even if we won...the paradox of me being from a future that didn't exist anymore living in the past would probably ruin everything anyway. I would either fade from existence and be unable to help anyone anymore because this instance of myself wouldn't be what my past self would grow up to be, or my efforts would be erased. Eggman would win and my past self would try making the Time Twister. It would be a never ending cycle of defeat.

"That's just quantum mechanics, though, and I have plans on how to keep the cycle from happening." The fox took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "No, the main problem of the Time Twister is that in order for it to work, it has to rely on a continuous type of Chaos Control." The fox put his glasses back on. "As a result, it would effectively pull the Chaos Emeralds from the time stream, beginning at the moment someone arrived in the past. The Emeralds would be remembered before then but wouldn't be able to be found anywhere in the world. My friends in the past wouldn't be able to find them but neither would Eggman." A grin briefly stretched across his face, self-satisfied at the small victory. "They would be kept suspended from reality until the machine shut down. However, for any of that to happen, the Time Twister needs two people." He hunched over and looked square at the camera, his brows furrowed. "One to operate it and one to go through. If enough change happens for Eggman to be overthrown then the machine will cease to exist, because past me wouldn't need to build it. The Chaos Emeralds will return to Earth and the Time Twister will disappear. Whoever stays won't remember this future, but whoever goes..."

He pushed his glasses back up his snout. "It's a one-way trip. Normally this would all still result in the timeline twisting back on itself and reasserting Eggman as the ruler of the Earth, but I have a plan!" The old fox pushed against the floor with his legs and the stool rolled to the other side of the camera. He reached off screen and came back with a vial of glowing blue liquid. "After running some biometric data scans on the Chao out back, I came across a DNA sequence that would give them odd mutations while transforming. It had some similarities to channeling the energy from the Chaos Emeralds and well… Long story short, whoever drinks this will be _technically_ considered a Chaos Emerald. They would have the same wavelengths as a real one, so when the Time Twister disappears the person will be linked to the Master Emerald and not suddenly...cease to exist." He coughed and muttered under his breath. Silver missed it, but Blaze was able to pick out the quick "theoretically" before the vulpine straightened up in his seat.

"No way," Silver breathed.

On screen the fox lifted the vial closer to the camera. Tiny little bubbles seemed to be trapped inside it. "I've run the numbers countless times and have done every experiment I could think of. I _know_ it works. Even down here I'm connected to the shards of the Master Emerald on the surface." The fox twitched slightly, and blinked several times. Eyes shining, he went on, "Whoever decides to go into the past has to be prepared to defeat Eggman and remain there." He paused for a moment, raising a hand to his chin. "Although...it's not impossible that there may be technology that Eggman has that could help the person in the past return to the future, but they would either be their own person or merge with another version of themselves. It's hard to be sure which outcome would happen."

The vial went off screen, and the hand it was in came back empty. The old fox rolled a little closer to the screen, hands clasped. "If you're watching this, then that means I failed in finding someone to send into the past. I don't know if I'll even be alive when you see this, so I don't even know if Eggman has been overthrown by now." He chuckled sadly, his smile a little broken. Like he didn't expect for that to happen at all.

Blaze's tail swished behind her. It really was an impossibility. The mad doctor had long ago turned himself completely mechanical in order to run his empire. He had even started aiming for the stars, wanting to expand his empire beyond their planet.

"If you've listened this far," said the old fox, "and have the determination, then I give you the ultimate power." The fox outright glared at the camera, smiling and stretching his hands out to either side. "The power to change the past! Stop Eggman and make this a future that we can be proud of! ...Please." Silver found himself nodding. Beside him, Blaze did as well. "The instructions are in the next log. Good luck." The wrinkles on his face seemed to multiply as he grinned widely one last time and gave a thumbs up. "End log."

The screen turned to black, then disappeared. The list and map of the world were left as they had been before the odd, and enlightening, interruption.

"Time travel," Silver started, breaking the silence. "I thought it was impossible, but that fox..." We waited for Blaze to agree with him, to add her two cents. When he looked up at her face though, he found her in one of her thoughtful poses. Hand under her chin, eyes down and searching. "Blaze?"

"It's..." She shook her head, arms crossed. "It seems outrageous...but that fox was convinced of his efforts. His eyes, his body language... I don't think he was lying."

Silver's eyes widened. Blaze's intuition was second to none. "So it's true! But the way it operates… Someone would have to stay behind."

"Then I'm trusting you, Silver."

"What? Blaze..."

"I came to this dimension to help its people. It may have started as a favor for an old friend, but I've grown attached to this world...and all of you." She turned to face Silver. Gone was her curiosity for the buried workshop and that sliver of openness that rarely came out. Here and now was the stoic princess from a kingdom far away, sure in every word and action.

"I'll stay here and activate the machine. I found plenty of preserved food in the back, even a garden. I'll be fine."

"Blaze..." Silver nodded, a smile stretching across his face. It wasn't half-hearted or pasted on.

It was genuine.

"Thank you!"

Blaze smirked, that openness reappearing, if just for a moment. "Just give it your all, alright?"

He nodded. "Right!"

As Blaze went through the files for the instructions, Silver felt something warm bloom. It was odd, alien almost, but he recognized what it was and couldn't stop smiling.

Hope. Happiness.

For the first time since he was a kid, he felt he could do something. Make a difference.

He wouldn't let the old fox down!


End file.
